In 1971 I underwent the profoundly wrenching change of becoming a member of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, leaving one life and embarking on another. I abandoned old associations to immerse myself totally in the life of a tight-knit temple commune; I radically restyled my exterior to complement my utterly changed interior. I became a stranger in my own land.

I didn’t find out I had been near death until my fourth day in the hospital. With a BTG deadline approaching and a load of GBC assignments on hold, I had begun pestering my doctor to let me out.

On Conceiving the Inconceivable: Some Principles in Understanding the Origin of the Condition Soul (Jul/Aug 1995)

From Back to Godhead Magazine, Issue 29-04, 1995 By Ravindra Svarupa Dasa

This simple dramatic narrative tells the story of who we are, where we came from, how we fell, and how we can be restored. Srila Prabhupada tells us this story, and so do the previous acaryas and the scriptures. This story is the profoundest truth ...

Pillars of Success: The Principles and Practices of Reform in ISKCON (Dec, 1999)

By Ravindra Svarupa Dasa, Dec, 1999

In October of 1984 I became active in what was later to be known within ISKCON as “the guru reform movement.” Over the next two years I wrote a series of widely circulated papers that attempted to understand and rectify some failures in ISKCON ...

The Inconceivable … One More Time (1996)

From Back to Godhead Magazine, Issue 30-01, 1996 By Ravindra Svarupa Dasa

A number of Back to Godhead readers have written—several at formidable length—to express doubts or objections concerning the essay "On Conceiving the Inconceivable," published in this column last summer (July/August). I hope it will be helpful for me to respond to the more significant points raised.

THE NATURE OF THE SELF: A Gaudiya Vaisnava Understanding (1996)

By Ravindra Svarupa Dasa, Presented at the Vaisnava-Christian Conference on January 20-21, 1996 at Buckland Hall, Powys, Wales.

The soul, or self (atma), is described as a separated, minute fragment of God, the Supersoul (paramatma). God is like a fire; the individual souls, sparks of the fire. As the analogy suggests, the self and the Superself are simultaneously one with and different from each other. They are the same in quality, for both the soul and the Supersoul are brahman. spirit. Yet they differ in quantity, since the Superself (param brahman—"supreme brahman"—in Bhagavad-gita 10.12) is infinitely great while the individual selves are infinitesimally small.

With Krsna in the Peaceable Kıngdom (Aug, 1982)

By Ravindra Svarupa Dasa, Aug, 1982

The forest of Vrndavana is lush with tropical fecundity; an exuberant nature has spilled out life in more abundance and variety than bush, treetop, glade, and stream could seem to hold. Myriads of varicolored birds, their bright plumes flashing in the foliage, fill the air with their musical calls, to which the monkeys tumbling in the treetops add a chattering counterpoint. The vagrant breezes gather scents from a multitude of flowers, stirring them together into a heady perfume that enchants the deer and leaves the leopards languorous and tame.